And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, went out, and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim,
Five kings march out and draw up for battle against the invaders who had ruled them. Why does Scripture record a war between pagan cities? And what happens to a believer living in the middle of it?
The chapter names armies, alliances and a battlefield. Abram appears nowhere. One writer draws the contrast from the two things Abram owned:
Here we have a very detailed account of a battle fought by "four kings with five." We may ask: what did this fight between "the potsherds of the earth" have to do with the history of the people of God? With Abram none, in one sense, for he was outside it all. His tent marked him as a stranger to all these things. It marked him as one to whom the battle of "four kings with five" mattered very little... His tent showed him to be a stranger on earth — his altar showed him to be at home in heaven. It did not matter to Abram who won the victory wreath — the king of Sodom or Chedorlaomer, king of Elam. His portion was not in danger through their strife, because he kept it in the place "where thieves do not break in and steal."
The account breaks in with no explanation. One commentator sees that silence as deliberate:
Notice how abruptly this comes in. God leaves us to form a spiritual judgment about how it connects with what came before... War was no such uncommon matter; but there was something very unusual in the results of this battle. God ordered things so as to draw everyone's attention unmistakably to Himself. There was a lesson shown to the world, and a lesson now taught to Lot, that ought not to be forgotten.
Scripture ties this battlefield to the Salt Sea, and its ground was dangerous:
One passage reads "the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea)"; another says the valley was "full of bitumen pits," that is, springs of tar. It was no doubt near the Salt Sea, though its exact site is unknown.
The five kings lose this battle. One writer sees more than politics in it:
The five kings served Chedorlaomer for twelve years. This pictures the world under the rule of false religion. At last they rebelled against this bondage (v. 4)... Then the king of Sodom and Gomorrah, with three other kings, went out to engage the four kings in battle (vv. 8-9). But the sinful, godless world has little power against religion inspired by Satan. Only a true knowledge of the Lord Jesus can free you from such a yoke.
Lot, Abram's relative, had settled in Sodom, one of the cities marching out here. That address decides everything for him:
Abram's happy lot was to have his life and his portion in a place where wars could have no influence. It was not so with his more worldly-minded relative. His position placed him right in the middle of the strife. So the outcome of this battle was of the deepest importance to him. If the child of God will stoop so low as to mix himself up with the world, he must expect to share in its upheavals.
The same failure shows up as a lack of power when the fighting starts:
It is still true that the believer who settles down in the world has no power against the world. Where there is not the faith that keeps the coming glory in view, there is not the faith to overcome the present evil world. This is the case of Lot... In the end, living in Sodom, he finds that on the day of conflict he is a lonely man. He has no strength, no friends to help, and cannot count on God's support. Powerless in the day of battle, he falls captive to his enemies.
One writer looks past this battle to where such conflicts end:
Genesis 14 presents the conflicts of the world — nations warring against nations. In them the believer who has refused the world gains the victory. The believer who walks by sight falls under its power. We also learn where the world's conflicts finally lead. Through the judgments of God they end in the deliverance of God's people and the setting up of the reign of Christ as Priest and King.
- Position decides. Abram's tent and altar kept him outside a war that swallowed Lot; where you live decides what you get dragged into.
- Revolt without power. The five kings threw off a twelve-year yoke and lost — the godless world has little strength against the power that holds it.
- Settled, then seized. Lot did not choose this battle; he chose Sodom, and the battle came with the address. The believer who settles in the world has no power against it and stands alone on the day of conflict.
- The end of all wars. These conflicts point on to God's judgments, the deliverance of His people, and Christ reigning as Priest and King.
with Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and Tidal the king of nations, and Amraphel the king of Shinar, and Arioch the king of Ellasar -- four kings with the five.
Genesis 14:9 lines up two groups of kings who met in battle near the Dead Sea. It reads like a page of ancient political history, so why is it in the Bible at all, and what has Abram to do with it?
The Bible records no earlier battle. One writer fills in the background and explains what "king" means here:
We can have little doubt that the confusion of tongues at Babel, and the division of mankind into nations that followed, must soon have given rise to fighting and regular warfare. But we have no record of a battle in the Scriptures until we reach Genesis 14. Then four kings from the Mesopotamian district marched towards the Dead Sea, destroying cities as they went, and in the end defeated the five kings of the cities of the plain. Most of the "kings" mentioned, if not all, were leaders of single cities — what we would now call petty chiefs. Chedorlaomer seems to have been the overlord of the kings with him. He had extended his rule over the region of Sodom. The rejection of his rule was the reason for the expedition.
Far larger wars get no mention in the Bible. One writer explains why this one does:
Every detail about His own people in this world is of the deepest interest to God. That is a most precious fact. He numbers our hairs. He takes account of our tears. He remembered Paul's need of a cloak. He noticed how weak Timothy's stomach was. In God's sight a small raid matters more, when His people are caught up in it, than the mightiest military campaigns that do not touch them. This is why Scripture gives a whole chapter to Chedorlaomer's attack on Southern Palestine (Gen. 14). Many of the great wars of the ancient world, which historians write about at length, get no notice in Scripture at all.
The alliances on both sides picture how the nations behave:
The chapter opens with a solemn picture of this present evil world. In this scene the nations form themselves into groups. They make alliances to push their own advancement, and to defend themselves from attack.
Abram is missing from both battle lines. One writer, quoting the older wording "four kings with five," treats that absence as the point of the scene:
Here we have a very detailed account of a battle fought by "four kings with five." We may ask: what did this quarrel between "the potsherds of the earth" have to do with the history of the people of God? With Abram indeed none, in one sense, for he was outside it all. His tent marked him as a stranger to all these things. It marked him as one to whom the battle of "four kings with five" would be a matter of very small importance. His tent showed him to be a stranger on earth. His altar showed him to be at home in Heaven.
F. B. Hole notes what became of these names outside the Bible:
At this point in the Scripture story we come to names of people that archaeologists believe they can identify from digging up the past. Some of these greater kings, such as Amraphel and Chedorlaomer, left their mark on very ancient records. But no mark of that kind would be left by Abram the pilgrim, who years before had cut himself off from their cities and their whole way of life.
Commentators differ on what the two coalitions picture. One reading takes the invaders as false religion and the cities of the plain as the open wickedness that cannot resist it:
Then the king of Sodom and Gomorrah, with three other kings, went out to engage the four kings in battle (vv. 8-9), but the fleshly, ungodly world has little power against satanically inspired religion. To be properly delivered from such a yoke it is necessary to have a true knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Another writer notes that the verse itself makes a point of counting them, and reads the same contrast:
These four kings — and the verse calls our attention specially to the number here (v. 9) — are at war with the five petty kings of the plain of Jordan. As a type, the five stand for the world in its open and sensual wickedness. The Babylonian kings stand for the religious world-power, always seeking to hold that more open evil captive, and usually succeeding.
One writer looks forward instead, seeing this clash and its outcome as a preview:
In that conflict of the kings, four against five, Abraham's nephew, who lived in Sodom, was taken captive with all his goods. Abraham heard of this. He armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants, chased the enemy, struck them, and rescued his nephew and all his goods, his women and his people. This no doubt pictures our Lord delivering His people by the victory of Armageddon and the deliverance of Jerusalem.
- War. The verse records the first battle in the Bible. Four eastern rulers under Chedorlaomer faced five city-chiefs who had thrown off his rule.
- Reason. This war is in the Bible because one of God's people was caught in it. Small events that touch His people outweigh great ones that do not.
- Weakness. The five could not stand against the four. Open wickedness has little strength against the religious power that holds it captive.
- Distance. Abram appears in neither battle line. His tent and altar made him a stranger to the quarrel, and he left no mark in the world's records.
- Rescue. What the armies could not do, faith did — a picture, one writer says, of the Lord delivering His people in a conflict still to come.